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Create Your OWN Personalized Newspaper Online – Video Tip

In this month’s group, we talked about and demonstrated how to set up a web page that can be personalized. I like to use a customized web page (portal) as my home page (first page that shows up when I start my browser). We looked at the Yahoo portal (My Yahoo) and the newer Google customized home page.

Both services require that you register and setup a user name and password. Once you register, you can customize your page to include weather information, stock portfolios, sports news and scores, news from industries or topics that you choose, comics, and even content from other web pages. Both services are free and give you the flexibility to add, subtract and edit any type of data that you choose.

  • After you sign in, first look for the

Clean your inbox

stuffed inboxEmail truly revolutionized communication. The ability to retrieve a message from anywhere in the world in a matter of seconds is mind boggling. However, judging by the size of your inboxes (see this week’s poll), you could benefit from some tips on how to keep your inbox clean.

I used to keep as many as many as 50 or so email stacked up in my inbox, but I always felt that I was behind in my work and consequently much of the email went unread and unanswered. A little more than a year ago, it all changed after I read an article that struck a chord with me called Email Zen. I immediately started practicing the techniques and suggestions in the article and found myself with a cleaner inbox and a better overall outlook (no pun intended) about email and my email communication. I continue to strive for the empty inbox and find that if i get more than 10, I start to get a little jumpy.

From reading that article and my own experience over the past eighteen months, here are my suggestions for reaching harmony with email:

Setting up a new computer

new computer boxPrevention is the best medicine when it comes to avoiding illness in ourselves. Prevention in the computer world is no different. And like a newborn baby, a newly purchased computer is subject to many terrible diseases and problems if not properly cared from the moment it is taken from its cardboard box. I follow these steps when setting up a new computer system for my clients, and recommend this methodology for all new computer setups:

Deleting Programs and Files

Wheelie Bins - Caledonian Lane
photo credit: geoftheref

This tip conjures up some points from older tips, but needs to be reiterated. Follow these rules-of-thumb to keep your system clean and more importantly running smoothly.

Use these rules when deleting individual files:

  1. Never delete files that you did not create.
  2. If you can’t trace the origin of the file, leave it alone.
  3. If the file sports one of the generic looking ‘windows’ icons (see picture), do not delete it (again unless you created it).
  4. Do not delete files that exist in the Windows directory, unless you created it.
  5. Instead of willy nilly deleting files, use the CCleaner tool

Use these rules when deleting programs or applications:

  1. Always start withRead More »Deleting Programs and Files

Cleaning and removing Antivirus 2009, PAV and others from your computer,

Cleaning
Photo by Jim Grandy

Preventing your computer from becoming infected is infinitely easier and less stressful than cleaning up after an infection.

Search my site for tons of information on setting up your computer for security and techniques to avoid scams. However, if you are already bit by one of the most recent nasty forms of software, Antivirus 2008, Antivirus 2009, Personal Antivirus, Internet Security 2009 among others (software I call extortionware that installs itself on your computer and then poses asRead More »Cleaning and removing Antivirus 2009, PAV and others from your computer,

What to do with an AVG found virus sreen

AVG Found Virus

If you use AVG Antivirus, you will be presented with the above screen at some time or another. Don’t immediately push the Move to Vault button or the Heal button. Instead, check the box labeled Remove as Power User, then click the Heal button. Checking that box first yanks the legs out from the virus and disposes of it immediately.

Treo, what Treo?

iPhone 3G Screen ShotAfter two solid months of using my iPhone 3G, I decided it was time for a short update. As many of you know, I used a Palm device for many years, ending with the Treo from 2003 through this August. When the first iPhone came out, I was intrigued, but thought Apple missed the boat, for me, by not utilizing the fastest cellular data network and not allowing 3rd party applications. When they announced the new iPhone last January and finally released it this summer, they had added the fast cellular network service and opened the system for third party development. It caught my attention in a big way this as it has 7 million other new iPhone 3G owners since its release in July.

Overall, the iPhone has performed wonderfully and with the exception of no cut, copy and paste (when Apple?  when?) it has performed admirably. I have been able to duplicate all the functions I used the Treo for, and added many new capabilities. I use the phone the most…after all, it is a cell phone. The visual voice mail system that lets you pick which message to listen to first or have the ability to visually pause, rewind or fast forward voice mail is stunningly implemented and makes managing voice mail much easier.

For extra applications, I settled on SplashID to manage my passwords, Grocery Zen to create shopping lists (I get through the store in at least 25% less time now), Now Playing to look up movie times, Pandora for listening to music (don’t have much time to do this, but it works well), Woot On! to check the daily Woot, but especially helpful when there is a Woot Off, WeDict for a dictionary, Wikipanion for great mobile access to Wikipedia, SportsTap keeps me up to date on sports I follow, Units application for converting volume, length, weight, etc. I also downloaded and occasionally use Word Warp, Sudoku, Tris (tetris clone), reMovem, and Blocks Classic for quick games. For future travel, I downloaded the mobile versions of Yelp and Hotels.com.

The built-in email application works well, and I use it daily in addition to browsing the web. The iPhone truly has exceeded

Printer Troubleshooting 101

Lately, I’ve run across many printer problems so I’m going to share with you my formula for approaching a printer problem.

  1. Shut off computer
  2. Shut off printer
  3. Check cable from printer to computer and make sure it is securely plugged in on both sides
  4. Check cable from printer to power source and make they plugged in well.
  5. Turn the printer on and wait for it to go through all of its startup activities (wait until it is quiet)
    • If the printer happens to be a HP printer, I will sometimes unplug the power cable from the back of the printer, then

Solution for computer users who can’t print from Internet Explorer 7 (IE 7)

Since I use Firefox exclusively for my browsing, I haven’t seen this problem yet, but today I ran into a computer that could print from anywhere but Internet Explorer 7 (IE7). Turns out that, in her case, the upgrade to AVG 8.0 caused the problem. A standard installation of AVG 8 installs a security toolbar in Firefox, if you use it, or Internet Explorer 7. The toolbar is meant to help users from clicking on potentially harmful web links. However, the toolbar, like most toolbars, slows down browsing speeds and in the case of Internet Explorer 7 with Windows Vista, it also disables the ability to print!

Warning: Your computer may be infected with viruses, spyware and exortionware

Extortionware? What is extortionware.

I have seen at least 10 computers in the past two weeks that have recently been infected with extortionware – viruses and spyware that infect your system by pretending to be an antivirus or other security program.

With names like Windows Antivirus, WinAntivirus, XP Antivirus 20008, etc. these programs appear to look and feel official. However, they are some of the worst virus or virus-like programs I have ever dealt with.

These viruses often come onto a computer via a pop-up advertisement that says looks like a Windows security or antivirus warning that reads something like, “Your computer is infected with one or more viruses and spyware programs. Click here to run a full scan.”